Gulf International Chemicals SAOG (GICI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Foreign Language] And good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the online discussion session about the ordinary financial results for the year ended 31 December 2024. My name is Adnan Khan. I'm the Finance Manager of the company and the acting GM. I'm joined here today by my management from Oman and UAE. These accounts are already disclosed on the MSX and published in the news report. I would like to request all the participants to keep their mics on mute unless there is a question during any time of the presentation. And there will be a question-and-answer session at the end of the presentation. With that, let's begin. Here is the content list. First, we have the company snapshot, our product categories, financial position for 2024, profitability analysis, expense analysis. And then we have question-and-answers at the end. Gulf International Chemicals SAOG established in 1996. Our main activities include manufacturing of building and construction chemicals, specialty chemicals, road paints, customized solutions to the construction industry. Our head office and factory are in Rusayl, Muscat. We also have a branch and factory in Sharjah. Our main market focus or segments include construction industry; direct sales to contractors, projects ready-mix concrete companies, marble factories; retail sales. We are an ISO 9001 certified company since 2007. Our product categories are concrete admixture, adhesives, bonding agents, industrial flooring products, protective coatings, joint sealants, concrete surface treatment products, road chemicals, concrete repair products, waterproofing products, [ grounds and anchors ]. So now we get to the financials -- is group financial position as of 31st December 2024. Our noncurrent assets are 303,439, as compared to 568,108 from last year. There is a negative variance of 264,669 or about 47 percentage. This decrease in noncurrent assets is mainly on account of our selling of major portion of our investment portfolio as well as some fixed assets as well. Likewise, our current assets are 2,653,124, as compared to 2,327,910 from last year. There's a favorable variance of 325,214 or about 14%. This increase in current assets comes from the cash received on account of selling of our investments. Therefore, our total assets, 2,956,563, as compared to 2,896,018, with a minor variance of 2%, net variance of 2%. Our noncurrent liability, 100,040, as compared to 92,869, which is about 7.7% increase. This increase only comes from [ employee end-of-service ] benefits payable. And then our current liability, 177,817, as compared to 175,999, a minor variance of 1%. Similarly, share capital reserve, 2,678,706, as compared to 2,627,150, again just a minor fluctuation variance of 2%. So overall, we have a strong financial position. Here is a graphical presentation for the financial position. The blue bar denotes 2024. The red bar denotes 2023. So we have total noncurrent assets, current assets, total assets, equity, capital reserves, noncurrent assets, current assets and then total equity and liability. Here is the group income statement. We have our revenue, which is 1,782,770, as compared to 1,873,245 for last year. We have a negative variance of 90,475, which is about 4.83 percentage, although this variance is more or less a normal variance, but just the markets were slower in 2024. Some major projects were about to start, didn't happen, but we are hopeful they will come along this year and we will have much better figures in 2025. Cost of revenue, [ 1,205,398 ], as compared to 1,292,104, a positive variance of 86,700 or 6%. As can be seen, our costs are much controlled and monitored. And they just -- they're moving as per our sales activities. Thereby, our gross profit, [ 577,372 ], as compared to 581,141, just a 0.65% variance. And our gross profit margin is almost same, 32% this year and 31% last year. We have other income, [ 663,165 ], as compared to [indiscernible] for last year. There is a 25% increase. The other income is mainly from our [ material and handling ] services and dividend received from our investments. This increase this year is mainly coming from gain on disposal of the fixed assets. Then general and admin expenses, 426,478, as compared to 415,246, a 2.7% increase; selling and distribution expenses, 148,677, as compared to 139,639, a 6.47% increase. This is just minor -- or regular, normal fluctuation with the operating operations of the company. Our finance income, 42,219, as compared to 29,441, which is an increase of 12,778 or 43% increase. This increase in finance income -- which is our return on our fixed deposits with the banks. So there has been a larger fixed deposit, as you can see [ in the accounts ]. Then we have finance cost, which pertains to leasing and more or less has a schedule year-on-year. Our -- which is 724, as compared to [ 774 ] for last year. Profit before tax, 106,877, as compared to 105,397, a slight increase of 1,480 or 1.4%. Taxation. And then net profit after tax, 91,558, as compared to 89,535, a minor increase of 2,023 or 2.26%. Net -- our net margin is 5.14%, as compared to [ 4.78% ] for last year. Here is the graphical presentations for the profit and loss. Blue bar are the 2024, red bar the 2023: revenue, gross profit, [ current ] income and net profit for the year. Then we have the expense analysis, already gone through. Cost of sales, just as [ for the ] change in the sales activity, we have this variance. More or less, the margin is same year-on-year. General, selling, finance, all are just minimal variance year-on-year. And then I would like to give an outlook for 2025. Outlook for 2025 is very conservative because of [ fierce ] competition from multinational companies and challenges of securing major raw materials at competitive prices and at the time required. So that's the end of the presentation. If there are any questions, I'll be happy to answer. Any questions, please? So if there are no questions, then I'll close the presentation.

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Okay then. Thank you very much for joining. And all the best.